Prince Harry arrived home from his tour of duty in Afghanistan today and said it has made him a stranger to normality.

"I don't know what normal is anymore," he said in a candid interview after stepping off the plane that brought him back from the war zone.

"There is nothing normal about what we have been doing for the past four-and-a-half months," the prince said. "There is nothing normal about what is going on out there. In the last day I was there, a seven-and-a-half-year-old girl got shot down by the insurgents. So normality is [a] very, very ambiguous thing, if you know what I mean."

"You get asked to do things," he said today. "You get asked to do things you would expect to do wearing this uniform and that is as simple as that really."

He also suggested that he had been shot at while co-piloting his Apache attack helicopter in the war torn province of Helmand.

During his tour of duty, "Captain Wales" as he is referred to in the British Army, gave the British press several candid interviews covering everything from hunting down the enemy to his delight at finding out that his brother, William, and sister-in-law, Kate, are expecting and that he would become an uncle.

Harry arrived back in the UK today after taking a short break at a base in Cyprus for "a bit of blue sky, a bit of decompression [and] some comedy."

The prince said his tour of duty was "a hell of an experience," but he is "thrilled to be back."

"I am longing to see my brother and sister-in-law as any other soldier just come off the plane," he said. "I really am longing to catch up with people behind closed doors."

"You guys aren't invited," he added, joking to the media.

He said that, given the opportunity, he hopes to "take on some royal stuff" and pay more attention to the charities he has been involved in.

Harry was an Apache helicopter co-pilot in charge of the weapons system. He sometimes flew an exhausting seven to ten hours a day.

As for what he'll be doing with the rest of his year, the prince said, "The army will have an idea, and what that is I will do."

"When I am wearing the uniform, I continue to be a soldier and I continue to be a soldier when I am not wearing the uniform," he said. "I will continue with my royal duties as well."